Be critical of ideas, not people.

As someone who is advocating for the use of social media with students, I am somewhat disheartened by the way I have seen educators speak to one another; especially lately.

It is healthy (and necessary) to engage in critical discourse about ideas, but it is never ok to attack people and get personal. It is also not ok to “subtweet”. If you are going to insult someone personally, not including their name, does not make it ok.

One of the things I advocate in the classroom is to consider multiple perspectives before taking any conversation to social media. Do we remember that there are people at the other end of our disdainful comments and criticisms? Do we consider the point of view of others? How they might be affected? Are we careful to check our own biases?